


Not-So-Haunted House

by Lovelyziam



Series: Tumblr Drabbles [28]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Dramatic Zayn, Getting Together, I don't even know how to begin tagging this one uuuhhh, M/M, Protective Liam, Worried Liam, but no actual robbing takes place, mentions of robbery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:55:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22931368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lovelyziam/pseuds/Lovelyziam
Summary: Being Zayn’s friend had a lot of perks. Really, it did. Liam loved it, loved Zayn, it was just, sometimes—“What did you just say?” Liam mumbled, groggily rubbing a fist into his eye as he forced his body into some form of wakefulness.“I said,” Zayn started, “I swear my house is haunted.”Liam let out a deep sigh, resigning himself to a drawn-out conversation about weird house-related noises at—Liam levered himself up a couple inches to check the clock—3:47 am. Which was—it was fine. He was totally coherent enough at the ass crack of dawn to have a conversation about potential ghosts.
Relationships: Zayn Malik/Liam Payne
Series: Tumblr Drabbles [28]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1332338
Comments: 2
Kudos: 46





	Not-So-Haunted House

**Author's Note:**

> [Original prompt](https://lovlieziam.tumblr.com/post/611080288413646848/your-drabbles-are-making-me-so-happythank)

Being Zayn’s friend had a lot of perks. Really, it did. Liam loved it, loved Zayn, it was just, sometimes—

“What did you just say?” Liam mumbled, groggily rubbing a fist into his eye as he forced his body into some form of wakefulness.

“I _said_ ,” Zayn started, “I swear my house is haunted.”

Liam let out a deep sigh, resigning himself to a drawn-out conversation about weird house-related noises at—Liam levered himself up a couple inches to check the clock—3:47 am. Which was—it was fine. He was totally coherent enough at the ass crack of dawn to have a conversation about _potential ghosts_.

For fucks sake.

With another sigh—hopefully quiet enough that Zayn couldn’t hear—Liam asked, “Why do you think your house is haunted, Zayn?”

Zayn let out a soft, choked laugh, before whispering, “Because I’m hearing so many noises. Like, more than usual.” There was a pause before, “Hey, actually, what’s a normal amount of sound for a house to make? Like is there a defined amount of noise a house is expected to make before it becomes a concern? Because I think we’ve passed that point now.”

Liam swallowed the light laughter that wanted to work its way out of his throat, instead trying to focus on actually responding to Zayn’s words. Before he could, however, Zayn continued with, “Or maybe I’m just being robbed.”

He said the words so casually, so normal-like that it took Liam a full twenty seconds of processing before—

“WHAT?!” He yelled, slinging himself into an upright position before abruptly getting out of bed. “What do you _mean you might be getting robbed?”_

“I don’t know, Liam! I mean that there’s a chance I’m getting robbed!” Zayn whisper-yelled. “There’s a lot of noise coming from downstairs and I’m sure as fuck not going to go and find out what’s causing it! I’ve seen horror movies!”

Liam let out a startled noise, his heartbeat picking up in his chest. “Zayn what the _fuck_ ,” he muttered, shouldering his phone so he could use both hands to grab the jeans from the chair in the corner and yank them up his legs. “Literally what the fuck. Why didn’t you lead with that?”

All Zayn did was let out a soft, non-committal noise on the other end of the line. Liam kind of wanted to shake him.

“Jesus, Zayn. Why didn’t you call the _police_?”

Zayn made another noise before, “I’m probably not being robbed, right?”

“ _Zayn!_ ” Liam closed his eyes, forcing himself to take a deep, calming breath before he continued. “Zayn, hang up the phone and call the cops. Right. Now. I’m coming over. I’ll be there in eight minutes.”

“But it’s a fifteen-minute drive—”

“ _Eight minutes,_ Zayn. Call the cops!” With that, Liam hung up, his pulse still thundering loudly in his ears, his nerve causing minute quakes to travel through his hands.

If Zayn got himself killed before Liam managed to work up the nerve to ask him on a date, Liam was going to _murder him._

The whole ride there—eight minutes, just like Liam said—there was a constant chant of _pleasebeokaydon’tbedeadormaimedwhenIgetthereplease_ running through his head. When he finally arrived, his breath caught in his throat at the _lack of cop cars in the driveway._ He would bet anything Zayn didn’t call them.

With his heart in his throat, Liam hazardously parked his car before throwing himself out of it and up Zayn’s stairs. He didn’t bother knocking—if there were already people in Zayn’s house, it sure as fuck wasn’t going to make them suddenly disappear.

He threw the door open, expecting to see Zayn’s front room in utter chaos, and maybe a few masked criminals scrambling around, grabbing anything of value. Instead, he was met with Zayn’s empty corridor and the sound of his TV’s low volume echoing on the hallway walls.

Okay, so maybe he’d broken a few speeding laws for no reason except playing into Zayn’s dramatics. That was fine. That was okay. He was about to do worse when he got a hold of Zayn, anyway.

Rolling his eyes at the eerie sounds the TV was making—some documentary about antient aliens coming to Earth and abducting people—Liam made his way to the stairs, taking them two at a time and heading towards Zayn’s room. When he entered, Zayn’s back was to the door and he was shifting through something on top of his dresser.

Liam crossed the room, reaching out to touch Zayn’s shoulder. The minute Liam made contact, Zayn jolted violently, jumping at Liam’s unexpected presence. He swung around, a book in hand—a fucking _hard back_ , where did he even pick that up from?!?—and began swinging it at Liam.

“Don’t touch me, foul beast!” Zayn shouted, waking Liam in the shoulder with the book _again_.

Liam threw his hands up, yelling, “Zayn! Zayn, stop! It’s just me, fuck, stop!” Liam curse again as Zayn paused in his assault.

“Shit, I’m sorry, Liam. I thought you were, like, a ghost or something,” Zayn mumbled. He ducked his head, a pink hue taking over his cheeks.

Liam stared at him for a moment because—was he _serious?_ “You thought I was…a ghost,” Liam said slowly. “A ghost,” he repeated, just to make sure he was hearing this shit correctly.

“Yeah—”

“Zayn you told me you thought you were being robbed!” Zayn winced a little, still not meeting Liam’s eyes. “I told you to call the cops!”

Zayn crinkled his nose, focusing a frown at the ground as he obviously worked through his thoughts. After a moment, he looked up to meet Liam’s eyes with a sheepish grin. “I realized after I said it that saying my house was haunted sounded kinda dumb. That it made me sound like a scaredey-cat. But, um, being afraid of burglars is totally reasonable and much less pathetic, so when the idea struck I went with it.”

Liam stared at him for a beat. And then another. One more, just for good measure, before—

“Zayn, you’re such an idiot.” Liam had meant to sound stern, disapproving even. But instead, his voice had come out incredibly fond and sweet. Goddamn but was he in love with this idiotic man.

“Fuck, I know, Liam, and I’m so sorry. I didn’t—”

But Liam did let him finished, too _relieved_ at the fact that Zayn was safe and he was blushing that adorable color that Liam found _so damn endearing_.

So, really, Zayn left him no option except for him to surge forward and capture Zayn’s still moving lips under his own, cutting off whatever embarrassed apology Zayn was in the middle of.

Zayn stiffened, making a low, surprised noise before going completely lax in Liam’s arms, pushing himself into Liam’s space and melting into the kiss. Liam heard himself make a happy noise in his own throat, before tilting his head to deepen the kiss. He lingered for a moment longer, trying to soak up as much of Zayn as he could, before pulling back with a final peck.

“You’re an idiot, and yet here I am, hopelessly in love with you anyway,” Liam murmured, his voice low and warm and incredibly fond.

“You’re in love with me?” Zayn gasped, his wide eyes burning into Liam’s.

Liam laughed in response, leaning forward to nuzzle his nose against Zayn’s. “Yeah. Why do you think I raced all the way across town the minute you said your house was haunted?”

It was Zayn’s turn to laugh, his breath fanning across Liam’s face and making Liam’s own grin impossibly wide. “You came because I said I was being robbed.”

Liam shrugged. “Semantics.”

They stood there for a moment, wrapped in each other’s arms and soaking up each other’s warmth, before Zayn whispered, “I still think my house is haunted. Liam, there were _so many creepy noises._ ”

Liam reared back, a loud and obnoxious laugh bursting out of him. He started laughing so hard he was forced to lean over, too afraid he’d accidentally throw himself backwards if he didn’t.

He didn’t see Zayn’s pout from his bent position, but he could hear it in his voice when he said, “Liam I’m being serious! Those noises don’t just make themselves!”

Maybe when Liam caught his breath, he’d be able to tell Zayn his downstairs TV was still on and that was most likely the cause of all those noises.


End file.
